KH: Within Awakening- Roxas's Story
by brawlingwolf
Summary: Yen Sid and Mickey believe they have thwarted Xehanort for the time being, but it seems their peace is only skin-deep. A darkness they never could have sensed has crept forth in Sora's heart, and it has fallen to three Keyblade wielders long thought gone to combat it. One of three concurrent stories taking place after Dream Drop Distance and before Kingdom Hearts III. Roxas's POV.
1. Introduction

"_Hearts are made of Light and Darkness… But even the brightest Light can fade. And sooner or later, all hearts must __**fall back to Darkness.**__"_

It was like the calm before the storm. Sora sat on the front steps of the Mysterious Tower, Donald and Goofy on the step above him as he looked out into the seemingly infinite nothingness around the small piece of land. Riku was up speaking with Yen Sid and Mickey about things only a Keyblade Master could know, so he'd been shooed out for the time being until he was summoned again to discuss finding the others that would make up the Seven Lights to counteract Xehanort's Thirteen Darknesses.

The three Good Fairies were continuing their work in aiding Lea in his training now that he actually had managed to summon his Keyblade, and Sora had offered to spar with him. But they had refused, telling him that he needed to rest and recover after his ordeal with the Nightmares and didn't want anyone swinging a Keyblade in his direction. He sighed as he pondered it.

"Something wrong, Sora?" Goofy wondered, and Sora leaned his head back to look at the knight captain.

"Nah, not really," he replied. "I'm just kind of bored. I mean... Just because I didn't pass doesn't mean I'm useless... does it?"

"Of course not," Donald insisted. "You just need more practice fighting the Darkness."

"Right..." he mumbled. "Riku's gotten really good at it... He doesn't have any problem controlling it anymore." He leaned his head back further and sighed again. "I guess I've fought it for so long that I didn't know how to defend myself if it managed to get to me. He's kind of the oher way around." He smiled a little. "But I guess that's why we're a team."

"Yeah!" Goofy agreed. "You've always got Riku's back, just like he has yours. And so do we!" Donald nodded in agreement, and both threw their arms around Sora's shoulders. He grinned and laughed as he tried to shove them off.

"Yeah, yeah," he said. "I'd be nothing without you guys. Thanks."

"Give yourself some credit," a new voice advised, and Sora turned his head to find Riku walking down the steps before sitting down next to him. "You're kind of the glue that holds us all together." He smiled and punched Sora's shoulder lightly.

"You done talking with Master Yen Sid?" the brown-haired boy asked, and Riku nodded.

"For now, anyway. I never realized just how much there is to being a Keyblade Master. They said I should take a break so I can process everything and they don't overwhelm me."

"Well, as long as you still know how to have fun," Sora teased, and Riku grinned at him.

"Yeah, you never did tell me why you were having a tea party," he recalled. "And where did you even get those glasses?"

"Well, I-" He fell silent and his grin faded to be replaced with a rather serious look on his face.

"Sora?" Riku beckoned, resting his hand on his friend's shoulder. "What is it?" But Sora didn't reply, and he seemed lost in thought. "Sora? Sora!" Donald and Goofy scrambled forward to observe the Kingdom Key's wielder, but he again didn't reply. "Sora! Answer me!" Riku demanded as he shook him gently.

Out of nowhere, Sora suddenly screamed in pain, making his companions jump, as he gripped and clawed at his shirt and jacket over his chest, his eyes wide and blank as he bowed forward. He fell to his knees on the grass in front of the Mysterious Tower and clenched his teeth as he groaned and whimpered. Riku jumped to his feet and crouched down in front of him, his hands on Sora's shoulders as he looked into his eyes.

"Sora! What's wrong?! You gotta tell me what the problem is if I'm gonna help!" Sora's gaze, for the most part, focused in on him for a moment before he cried out again, clawing at his chest once more.

"M-My heart...!" he gasped. "H-Hurts... P-pain!" he collapsed to the ground and curled up on his side, trembling, and Riku's mind raced to think of something he could do. "Riku, it hurts!" he nearly yelled, his eyes watering. "G-Get rid of it!"

"Sora, I can't," Riku replied. "I'm not gonna spend another year tracking down your Heartless and Nobody. We don't have time for that." He meant it as a joke, but he bit his lip as he realized that actually was what Sora was asking of him.

"J-Just do something!" he begged as his tears spilled from his eyes, and Riku felt panic crash over him like a wave. He looked up to Donald and Goofy, both obviously worried for their friend.

"Go get Master Yen Sid!" he practically barked, and they looked up at him before they both scrambled up and raced inside. Once they had gone, he returned his attention to his friend and rested his hand on Sora's shoulder. "Stay with me, Sora. We'll figure this out. You'll be okay."

"I-It hurts..." Sora whimpered again, his voice alarmingly weak. Riku chewed his lip, willing Donald and Goofy to hurry and hoping that Yen Sid would know what to do to help.

"You'll be okay," he repeated. "We'll get this straightened out. We'll stop the pain." Sora didn't say anything else, but only trembled as he remained curled tight on his side. After several moments longer, he again made Riku jump with a sudden outburst.

"K-Keyblade!" he shouted before falling silent, suddenly eerily still.

"Sora?" Riku prodded his shoulder, but he didn't respond. "Sora!" Still nothing. He turned the boy onto his back and found he had fallen unconscious. Again, Riku shook him gently. "Oh, come on, Sora! Wake up!" Still, he did nothing. "Errgh... What's wrong with you?!" But he received no reply, and he sat in silence until Yen Sid and Mickey came out with Donald and Goofy panting behind them. He quickly explained what little he knew about what had happened to the old sorcerer, who listened intently and appeared genuinely concerned.

"Keyblade?" he repeated once Riku had told him the last thing Sora had said. "Hrm... Riku, bring him up to my chamber. I will observe him there." Riku nodded and carefully hoisted Sora up on his back, locking his arms under him with the brown-haired boy's head on his friend's shoulder. Even then, he didn't stir. "Keyblade..." Yen Sid repeated again. "What did he mean by that? What was he trying to say?"

"I think he wanted me to take his heart," Riku replied. "I told him I wouldn't. But it must have really been hurting him if he was asking for it."

"Gosh... I hope he's okay," Mickey said from behind them. "Oh!" He hurried forward to Yen Sid's side. "Master Yen Sid... You don't think Sora meant the χ-Blade, do you?" Yen Sid stopped suddenly, and Riku nearly ran into him.

"What do you mean 'the Keyblade?'" he asked of the king, and Mickey turned to him.

"Not that kind of Key," he explained. "It can be pronounced 'kye' too. It kind of looks like a funny-shaped 'X.'"

"Oh, _that_ χ-Blade," the new master muttered as he adjusted Sora's weight on his back.

"The χ-Blade," Yen Sid mused. "Why would he speak of it now?"

"Something's happening in his heart," Mickey said. "And from the sound of things, it isn't anything good."

"I will need to observe him," Yen Sid reiterated. "Whatever this is, we will have to hope and pray that it passes without harming him or anyone else." Riku swallowed and picked up his pace, indeed hoping that Sora would come out of this unscathed.


	2. Awakening

Sora was safe. Riku had pulled him back to the light. The threat hanging over them had passed. So, why did this darkness remain, and why had he been shaken from his slumber?

This darkness he found himself in scared him. It wasn't simply sleep, but something much stronger, something he knew shouldn't have been there. Once his feet found solid ground, he took a deep breath, leaned his head up, and closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the darkness around him. He summoned forth Oathkeeper and pointed the Keyblade toward the ground a few paces ahead of him, and a light shot out from the tip and flowed toward his target. A brilliant light broke through the darkness, shattering it away and leaving behind a stained glass pillar of a brown-haired boy in red.

"Sora…" Oathkeeper's wielder breathed as he looked down at the boy's face.

_"Roxas…" _came a soundless voice as if in reply, and Roxas looked up into the darkness above him. _"Stop the Darkness. Save the Light."_

"Sora?" Roxas called again in a stronger voice. "You wanna tell me what's going on?"

_"Save the Light,"_ the soundless voice said again. Roxas sighed and dismissed his Keyblade, glancing around the pillar as he started walking forward.

"Save the Light…" he mused. "What's happening?" He stopped and stood still for a moment before turning around to find a small creature watching him from the edge of the pillar with large yellow eyes, scratching at the glass as it stared at him. At the sight of it, Roxas summoned his Keyblade again and set himself into his battle stance. "What are _you _doing here?!" he demanded as it turned its black head from side to side, its antennae twitching. Shadows like this were never much of a nuisance to him, but to see one here disturbed him. He didn't wait for an answer and rushed toward it, Keyblade at the ready, but it vanished before he could reach it. He skidded to a halt and straightened back up, both hands clenched into fists as he tried to make sense of what was happening. He turned away from the edge of the pillar and started back toward its center.

He stopped, however, as he felt a slight shaking beneath his feet, and turned around just in time to find a giant black Heartless with a heart-shaped hole in its torso rising from the depths of darkness below, yellow eyes watching him as its claws flexed. Roxas felt a chill move down his spine and readied his Keyblade once again, scrambling back as the Heartless, a Darkside, drove its hand into the ground he stood on and darkness erupted around it, summoning several more Shadows. Without even a moment of hesitation, Roxas charged forward and slashed at the Darkside's hand again and again, stopping only when the Heartless pulled its hand back. While he waited for another opening, the boy turned his attention to the Shadows attempting to swarm him, dispatching them quickly before they could overwhelm him.

Once they were taken care of, he jumped up with his weapon aimed at the Darkside's hand again and spun around, connecting with his target several times before he landed. The Darkside leaned forward and crossed its muscular arms over its torso before bowing back and shooting out several balls of light from the hole in its chest. Roxas frowned and jumped back about a pace, circling the circumference of the pillar he stood on, and found himself knocked forward with pain in his back as one of the lights managed to catch up with him. He looked up and rolled back and out of the way as the Darkside smashed its hand into the pillar once more, hitting the boy with the shockwave it produced upon impact. Roxas grit his teeth and shook off the blows, dodging around the Shadows that appeared to attack the Darkside again.

One final strike sent the Shadows scurrying and the Darkside leaned forward again, though it prepared no attack this time. Instead, it simply stared at him as it swayed, its form beginning to dissolve back into darkness.

"How did you get here?" Roxas demanded of it, but it offered no reply. The yellow of its eyes faded into black and it sunk back into the darkness below, and Roxas jogged over to the edge of the pillar and looked down after it. As far as he could tell, it had vanished, and he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

When he looked back up, though, at some sense or other, he found himself staring at a figure seemingly standing on nothing in the darkness ahead of him, arms crossed over its chest. It wore a garb Roxas was far too familiar with: the long black coat of Organization XIII, accompanied by the usual black gloves, pants, and silver-trimmed boots. The coat's hood hid the figure's face from view, though it appeared to have a masculine build as far as he could tell, alerting him that this wasn't one of his companions he had come to have around. Without much thought, he glanced down to his own clothing- a white, short-sleeved jacket adorned with a checkered pattern over another black one and black and white pants.

"Who are you?" he called as he looked back up, but the figure didn't speak. It uncrossed its arms and only nodded to him before turning away and vanishing into the darkness. "Hey, wait!" Roxas yelled, but the figure was gone, leaving him confused and irritated. He dismissed Oathkeeper and crossed his own arms, lowering his head in thought for a moment until a brief glow of light out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he found a path resembling stained glass had appeared. He frowned a moment longer before he made his way across it to another pillar of a different color.

Once he had arrived there, he let out a breath of relief as two others approached him, and they met in the center of the pillar. One was a girl dressed in the same coat the figure from before had worn. She had short black hair with bangs swept to one side, and her deep blue eyes shimmered with relief at the sight of him. Their other companion was a boy who strikingly resembled Roxas with the same hair of blond spiked up similar to a wave on one side and a nearly identical face, though his eyes were a brighter shade of blue and reflected a consciousness that had endured harsh pain and loss, yet shone with stalwart determination and hope. He also wore an outfit made of mostly black and white, though his jacket was made of about half and half and his pants only reached down to his ankles. He also wore armor on his left shoulder and around his waist, though neither Roxas nor his other companion had any explanation as to why.

"Roxas, Xion," the other boy greeted with a smile of relief and a dip of his head.

"Ven," they both replied within a moment of each other, using his preferred nickname rather than his full name of "Ventus." "Are you both okay?" Roxas wondered.

"A little shaken," Xion admitted, rubbing her arm. "But I'm okay."

"Same," Ventus agreed. "I'm gonna guess you both had some issue or other with this darkness."

"A Shadow and a Darkside," Roxas reported.

"Darkside?" Ventus echoed, confused.

"A really big Pureblood Heartless," Xion explained, and Ventus let out a brief grunt of understanding as he nodded.

"I don't think they were the same thing, and something about the Shadow bothered me," Roxas went on as he crossed his arms again. "And there was a guy in a black coat. I didn't see his face, but-"

"It was like he was standing on nothing," Ventus interrupted, and Roxas stared at him.

"Yeah," he agreed. "How'd you know?"

"I saw him too. I had a kind of nasty battle with an Unversed, and I'm trying to figure out where it came from. But after I got rid of it, I saw a boy in the coat you two wear."

"But he vanished," Xion finished. "Who is he?"

"That seems to be the big question," Ventus shrugged. "But a bigger question is, how do we figure that out?" Roxas looked up into the darkness above them, losing himself in his thoughts for a moment.

"There's something wrong in Sora's heart," he thought aloud. "This darkness shouldn't be here, not after Riku saved him. The guy in the coat probably has something to do with it." He paused. "I heard a voice that said 'Stop the Darkness. Save the Light.'"

"Me too," Xion said, and Ventus nodded. "So, if we get rid of the Darkness, then Sora should be okay. But I don't want to find out what'll happen if we don't."

"But how do we do that?" Ventus sighed. "I guess we'd need a way to traverse his heart."

"Well, that should be simple enough," Xion pointed out, summoning forth the Kingdom Key and pointing it forward. A light formed at the tip and flowed forth into the darkness, but something like a barrier stopped it, and it shot back toward her. She shrieked as it knocked her back and both boys quickly scrambled to pull her back to her feet.

"You okay?!" Roxas demanded as she tried to regain her balance.

"Y-yeah," she replied as she looked over to him with an attempt at a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, I think."

"What _was_ that?" Ventus wondered as he looked out into the darkness. "Whatever it is we're dealing with, it doesn't want us to leave."

"Then how the heck are we supposed to fight it?" Roxas groaned. "We're not gonna get anywhere if we're just standing around." The three of them fell silent in thought while the boys doted over Xion to assure she was okay, to which she shrugged them off and insisted she was fine.

"Roxas," Ventus pondered. "You're Sora's Nobody, so you've probably got the closest connection to him out of all of us. Maybe you can break through." Roxas stared at him briefly and shrugged.

"I guess it's worth a try," he replied, calling forth Oathkeeper again and aiming it into the darkness ahead. He took a deep breath as the light formed and flowed forth, breaking through whatever barrier had them trapped and opening a path. He blinked and turned back to his companions.

"Go," Xion assured him with a smile. "We'll catch up!" Ventus smiled as well, and Roxas nodded to them before turning to the path he'd opened and hurrying through it.


	3. Destiny Islands

The path from the depths of Sora's heart passed through what felt like complete darkness, and Roxas swallowed back a bit of fear as he made his way down it. To his surprise, it didn't take long for him to come across a light within, and he picked up his pace toward it, panting by the time he reached it. He paused for a moment before reaching out, and once his fingers brushed it, he found himself pulled into a familiar world bathed in bright sunlight. The sand of the beach shifted under his shoes as he looked around the island for anything out of place, but it seemed normal: The same Destiny Islands he knew from Sora's memories.

"Why would I need to come here?" he wondered aloud as he headed toward the shack in the middle of the beach. He knew Destiny Islands meant more than any other world to Sora, but it seemed peaceful. He sighed and scratched his chin briefly. "Stop the Darkness, save the Light. But what Darkness is there here?" As if to answer him, he looked up at a shuffling sound coming from nearby the freshwater spring. "Why do I get the feeling I'll be sorry I asked?"

He picked up his pace across the beach, kicking up sand as the sun shone down and seagulls screeched overhead, the breeze off the waves rustling the leaves in the trees overhead. Once he reached the path by the spring, he pushed back the foliage blocking a small hole nestled between it and the large tree, and slipped inside once he had enough room.

"The Secret Place…" he mumbled as he thought over everything he had access to in Sora's memories. Sora spent quite a bit of time here as a child with Riku and Kairi drawing on the walls. It was also the place where…

"This world has been connected," a voice said once he emerged into the main part of the cavern where their drawings adorned the rocks and a wooden door with no handle stood. Roxas clenched one hand into a fist as he looked around for the source of the voice and strained his eyes to make out a figure in a brown robe with dark straps over its chest. Whether by his own choice or simply following the memory he had accessed, he slowly trod over to stand next to the drawing of Sora and Kairi exchanging a Paopu Fruit.

"Who are you?" He asked in a low voice.

"Tied to the darkness…" the figure went on. "Soon to be completely eclipsed." Roxas frowned as it turned toward him. "You do not yet know what lies beyond this door."

"Another world," Roxas smirked.

"There is so very much to learn," the figure continued in a dark voice. "You understand so little."

"I understand you're a problem I gotta deal with!" the Nobody snapped. "Get out of here before I make you leave!" The robed figure only shook its head- or lack thereof- at him slowly.

"A meaningless effort," it chastised. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing." It spoke the words slowly, emphasizing the final one, and Roxas sighed.

"Right, right." He shook his head as well. "You're just a memory. You gave this speech to Sora before-" He stopped short and looked back through the tunnel he'd come through. "Oh, no…" But when he turned back to the figure, it was gone, and he massaged his forehead briefly before hurrying back out through the tunnel.

Once he was outside, he found he'd gotten worked up for nothing. The island was still peaceful as far as he could tell, though the sun was setting on the horizon. He blinked and walked over to the shack, climbing up on top of it to reach the bridge spanning the water. Once he crossed it to the islet, he made his way to the Paopu Tree and leaned back against it as his gaze fell on the water shimmering in the evening light.

"Talking to that guy is pretty much what led Sora to the other worlds," he pondered aloud with no one around to hear him. "Yes, the Islands were destroyed, but they were brought back. And he left again on his own accord to take the exam…" He leaned his head back and let out a heavy breath of defeat. "So, what's left? What darkness do I need to clear out?" He fell silent as he watched the sunset for a bit longer before heaving himself back to his feet. He turned back toward the island and started across the bridge, jumping off once he was back over the sand, and he headed in the direction of the door leading to the other part of the island. A sense stopped him, however, and he turned around.

Standing on the bridge with his arms at his sides was the figure in the black coat, watching Roxas from the shadows of his hood. He still did not speak, but also jumped off the bridge and landed in the sand below.

"Who are you?" Roxas snapped, but received no reply, and he summoned Oathkeeper and set his battle stance as the figure raised a hand toward him. Out of nowhere, darkness erupted around him and quickly spread over the island, blocking out the sun and knocking Roxas off his feet. As he flew back, another form briefly appeared on the edge of his vision, kneeling down before the darkness overtook it. He staked his Keyblade into the ground beneath him and stomped down to regain his footing against the violent winds that accompanied the darkness around him.

He peered forward as the darkness slowly began to disperse, revealing a broken beach beneath him as it swirled around him. He looked up to find a Darkside clawing up from out of the darkness, and he readied his Keyblade as its yellow eyes stared at him.

"Alright," he growled. "You wanna do this again? We can do it again!" He rolled back as it swept its arm over the demolishing beach and leapt up to strike at its hand as it prepared to slam the ground to summon the Shadows. Once it did so, he swung Oathkeeper to strike it as many times as he could before it pulled back and he dispatched the Shadows before they could attack him. He sprinted back and dodged around as it launched its balls of light from its chest as him, leaping up once he was out of range and jumped up to attack its hand again. Once it slammed down again to summon the Shadows, he struck it hard and it groaned, leaning forward before slowly disappearing as Roxas hurried back to the other edge of the sand as it rumbled beneath him. He braced himself and turned back toward the Darkside, glaring at it as it vanished and squinted his eyes shut as he waited out the destruction of the island.

But, almost at once, the shaking stopped, and he dared to open one eye as his legs felt like rubber under his weight. He glanced around in some mix of awe and confusion at the repaired Destiny Islands around him and the sunset over the waves. He found he was back nearly under the bridge and a mass of darkness had settled just in front of him, and he stared at it curiously until a keyhole appeared within it. He summoned back Oathkeeper and pointed it toward the hole, unlocking it, and the darkness shattered away. What he found in its place surprised him.

The darkness had imprisoned a young woman, tall and thin with short, slightly choppy blue hair cut around the nape of her neck. Her blue eyes sparkled with care and wisdom as she gazed at him, and she wore pink straps that crossed over her chest that held a mark just like the one Ventus wore. She smiled warmly and knelt down slightly to his height.

"Uh, hi," he greeted and scratched the back of his head.

"Hello," she said gently. "You mind telling me your name?" He hesitated and opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by a sudden, blinding flash of light around them, and he covered his eyes as he squinted them shut. Once it died down, he found her watching him with some level of disbelief in her eyes.

"Uh…" he managed to say as she continued to gaze at him.

"…Ven?" she said softly.

"Er, no," he replied. "I'm Roxas. But I know Ven."

"You do?!" her eyes widened and she placed her hand on his shoulder, surprising him as he stiffened. "Where is he?"

"I… couldn't say," he mumbled. "Sorry." She looked down to find Oathkeeper still in his grip, and her eyes softened.

"You're a Keyblade wielder," she said with a slight and even sad smile. "Have you come from another world?" He thought it over for a moment. Destiny Islands was Sora's home, but he hadn't exactly been born there as a Nobody.

"Yeah," he decided to say and paused. "I'll probably see Ven again while I'm out there," he added for reasons he didn't quite understand. Her eyes lit up.

"If you see him, then please." A trace of pleading crept into her voice. "Tell him to come home."

"Uh, okay," he said with a tilt to his head. "I'll pass it along. But what's your name?" Her smile grew, but before she could answer, another blinding light flashed through the beach, and when it died down, she was gone. He spun around in an attempt to find her or anyone else, but there was no one to be found.

"Huh…" he grunted. "Who was that?" He closed his eyes and looked back through Sora's memories as best he could, but could only find a vague recollection of the girl from an early memory from Sora's childhood. But it was something, at least, to tell him that there was a reason for her being there. However, he had no reason as to why such a distant memory had appeared to him. Meanwhile, there was the fact that she had been locked away in darkness, and he couldn't help but think the boy in black was connected to it.

Another light shook him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to find a Keyhole had appeared over the water.

"Guess I'll take it up with Ven," he decided and pointed Oathkeeper at the Keyhole, and once the light from the Keyblade reached it, it overtook the Islands and returned him to the darkness he had come from.


End file.
